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Formula 1 has just had the most relevant, insightful and exciting free practice session it will have all year – because it featured the first real qualifying simulations of 2023.
Friday practice is usually nothing to get too excited about, but the first FP2 of the season is the first time that teams collectively undertake their low-fuel, soft-tyre runs to prepare for qualifying on Saturday.
That means after a week of second-guessing the pecking order after testing, we have the most realistic indicator yet of where the 10 teams are on raw performance heading into the new season.
Our F1 journalists Edd Straw and Scott Mitchell-Malm were trackside for the entire FP2 session and saw every driver’s qualifying simulation. This is what they saw – from the slowest team to the fastest.
ALPHATAURI
We feared after pre-season testing that a late soft-tyre run, possibly on low fuel, might have slightly inflated our opinion of the AT04. It looks like that was the case.
The AlphaTauri did not look impressive this evening at low or high speed.
Of the two drivers, Yuki Tsunoda looks more comfortable. He is more under control under braking for Turn 10, and able to attack the fast Turn 11 more.
But it’s not a car that looks completely under either driver, so both were slightly tentative. Even in the higher-speed corners where the AlphaTauri has improved, it wasn’t entirely convincing.
As for the long runs, Tsunoda also made fewer mistakes than Nyck de Vries, who had one massive lock-up early on and then struggled with understeer the rest of the run.
WILLIAMS
As it did last week, the Williams looks…actually pretty good. It’s just not particularly fast.
Logan Sargeant’s aborted first flying lap means he comes through a little reserved at Turn 10 when he does commit, but it’s all quite tidy.
Alex Albon has a bit more understeer, but that looks like a legacy of a bit more entry speed. The traction breaks a tiny amount too as a result.
This is consistent with the sight at Turn 11 too. Both drivers can attack the kerb on entry and the car looks solid enough on balance – it’s just lacking some all-round grip.
ALFA ROMEO
The Alfa Romeo makes little impact by way of positive or negative traits – it still seems very user-friendly.
A touch of understeer at low speed and a hint of a rear limitation on turn-in at higher speed are the only notable issues for both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
It gives a slightly stronger impression at Turn 11, which is consistent with testing, but there’s little in it as the car still looks nearly poised at Turn 10 – but for the Bottas understeer that sends him slightly wide of the apex.
McLAREN
There’s little surprise when we see a big gap in laptime between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri upon returning to the paddock from trackside. The car still looks like a handful on the brakes and in terms of overall grip.
Norris is having to hustle it to the apex at Turn 10, as the car looks quite unwilling, and Piastri visibly suffers from the under-rotation – a familiar sight for the McLaren last year.
Norris also seems more at ease at Turn 11, where Piastri’s slightly later getting back on the power, likely again because of slight under-rotation. But that’s to be expected given Norris’s experience with this line of McLaren’s.
If there’s any comfort, the car looks a little more controlled on the long runs. On low fuel, it looks like the car is just on a knife edge.
MERCEDES
It’s a mixed bag from a car that has a slight hint of sketchiness about it.
The W14 does not look as bad as it did on a confusing second day of testing. It was more like day one – slightly weak rear-end instability and traction limitation as a result.
Lewis Hamilton looks more at ease in the qualifying simulation although the longer run does not look comfortable.
This still looks like a car with a rear that sometimes just doesn’t quite keep up with the front and that struggles increasingly for traction as long runs progress at a rate greater than its rivals.
ALPINE
The Alpine is unspectacular, but reasonably quick. Esteban Ocon has a small mid-corner slide with the front axle through Turn 10, whereas Pierre Gasly displays a touch of understeer.
There’s nothing dramatic about it. And Turn 11 leaves a clear impression the drivers are not as attacking as the rest even on push laps.
They are not taking quite as much road on entry, which potentially suggests a bit more to come, unless there’s some instability at the rear that they are compensating for.
HAAS
Kevin Magnussen arrives at Turn 10 a little disjointed, whereas Nico Hulkenberg is visibly more committed.
While Magnussen struggles entry to exit, at low fuel and on longer runs, Hulkenberg looks nicely controlled. There’s quite a big disparity between them – almost like different cars.
At the faster Turn 11, both are perhaps struggling slightly to get the car rotated.
It’s maybe a bit of understeer, or possibly a rear limitation that means they have to be slightly conservative on entry, but it’s not a major imbalance.
A few times they were running out of road in the exit phase more than others too.
FERRARI
There is nothing visibly weak about the Ferrari beyond a slight indication of hesitation compared to the Red Bull and Aston Martin.
Both drivers can attack the braking zone at Turn 10 reasonably well and the car responds positively on the front with no real sign of any rear instability.
It’s just not quite as fast. And at Turn 11, it looks planted but maybe just requires a slightly more delicate turn-in as the car doesn’t quite load up as effortlessly as, say, the Aston Martin.
RED BULL
Two things stand out as the Red Bulls blast past: they aren’t as hooked up as a week ago, and they are sparking more than any other car when heavier.
The RB19’s limitations are perhaps more apparent at low speed. Neither driver looks as blisteringly committed as in testing but the car still looks decent.
Verstappen seems to find a bit more confidence on low fuel and arrives into Turn 10 with the car more poised, whereas Perez needs a second go to get the car to the apex.
At Turn 11, Verstappen is so far onto the outside kerb for the entry he is pretty much on the drag strip, he’s able to attack and the car is responding nicely with the rotation.
It doesn’t look ultra-planted but still very good.
ASTON MARTIN
The similarity between the car’s behaviour in FP2 to last week stands out simply because…every other car looks a bit worse.
In Fernando Alonso’s hands, the AMR23 looks like it did a week ago. It’s nothing special, but it is extremely tidy. He’s good on the brakes, the car responds well to a single turn-in, and it is smooth on traction.
At Turn 11, Alonso loads up the car very quickly on entry, hooks it up to the apex well, and it rotates nicely.
He’s also on the power at a decent time and not having to massively hustle it.
Both corners reflect Alonso’s own verdict afterwards: “I will lie if I say it’s not feeling good [to drive].”
